The Ankulen Read online

  Mother sighed and shook her head, but I could tell that she was pleased with my tale. “Well,” she announced, “for that whopper I'll let you come in for lunch.” She gave me a long, hard look. “Why are you wet?”

  “Well, I was swimming with the mermaids. I was underwater. You get wet when you're underwater.”

  “Stay there.” The door was shut in my face, leaving me dripping awkwardly on the porch. After what seemed like forever, the door opened again, and Mother held out a bath towel. “Dry off as best as you can, then go to your room and change into dry clothes. Then you can come to the kitchen and I'll get you some lunch.”

  “Um, thanks Mom.” I accepted the towel and wrapped it around myself.

  “Be quick,” Mom warned, as she shut the door on me again.

  Once I was dry enough that I wouldn't leave wet spots on the carpet, I entered the house and went to my bedroom where I changed into a dry t-shirt and shorts. I made sure to transfer the Queen's Necklace to the pocket of the new shorts.

  I found it hard to believe that such a pretty little trinket was the product of my imagination. While the broken silver chain was plain enough, the pendant was a teardrop-shaped pearl the size of a large grape (You know, the seeded variety). It had a rainbow sheen to it, and the silhouettes of mermaids were etched into the sides.

  “I didn't make an ugly world,” I whispered. “It's just been ruined. And I can fix it – just as soon as I can remember how.”

  I gave my hair a final pat with the towel before I went to the kitchen where Mom was waiting for me.

  “There you are,” she said, glancing up as she placed a third bowl of leftover stew on the table. “I was starting to worry that you had gotten lost. Now we just need Tisha and we can eat. Do you know where she is?”

  I shook my head. “She and Chris said they couldn't breath underwater, so I left them on the beach when I went to help the mermaids. I think they said the were going to go hide in a cave.”

  “So when do you think she's going to show up for lunch?”

  I shrugged. “I don't think she can get out without me.”

  “Out?”

  “Out of my imagination.” I gave the food a longing glance. “Besides, Chris just fought a dragon. They're having dragon steak for lunch.”

  Mom stared at me long and hard, then sighed and shook her head. “Well, I suppose Tisha has a watch, so if she doesn't show up for lunch, it's her problem.” She couldn't hide her worry. “You'll look for her as soon as you get back out there, yes?”

  “Sure, if you want me to,” I said, sitting down at my place.

  Mom sighed and sat down across from me. She said the blessing, thanking the Lord for my restored imagination and asking for Tisha's safety alone in the woods.

  “It's not restored yet,” I admitted, as I picked up my spoon and slid it into the stew, savoring the smell. “I still have a Polystoikhedron eating it, and I still need to figure out how to use it. I only know what direction I need to be walking.”

  “It's still a step in the right direction,” said Mom, sighing at my over-complication of things.

  I gave a half-smile as a spooned a potato into my mouth. “That's what people keep telling me. Mmm… frog leg soup is good, but it's nothing compared to real food.”

  “Frog leg soup?”

  “It's apparently a delicacy in my imagination.” I shrugged. “It's good, I'll give it that, but it's still imaginary, and imaginary food is hardly satisfying to real people.”

  “I should think not,” said Mom. Then she frowned. “Why is there a stick in your hair?”

  I laughed self-consciously. “Oh, Walnut gave it to me after I helped him find his Home Tree. I'm told that I can make it grow into a full-grown tree in minutes.”

  “And why is it in your hair?”

  “Uh … because I didn't have anywhere better to put it?”

  “Well, I hope you don't plan to make wearing sticks in your hair a habit.”

  I shrugged. “Actually, I was thinking about starting a trend. Do you think it would take?”

  Mom shook her head. “No. I don't.”

  “I thought it wouldn't.” I sighed wistfully.

  We ate our stew in silence for a few minutes. Mom was the one who at last spoke. “I hope you realize that I don't mean to be cruel to you …”

  “Oh, I know you're not,” I said, quickly.

  Mom gave a small smile. “I don't mean to be cruel to you …” she repeated, “It's just that … I don't want you to go through life …” She trailed off, and when she spoke again, her words were in a different direction. “I thought that, perhaps, if I kept encouraging your imagination to come back, it would – someday.” She stirred her soup for a few seconds, then looked up and stared me in the eye. “I don't want the same thing to happen you as happened to me.”

  My spoon froze half-way to my mouth. “What do you mean?”

  Mom sighed and dropped her gaze back to her bowl. “I used to have an amazing imagination, Jenny. I – oh, it was amazing. It seems silly to say this – but it … it almost seemed real at the time.”

  I frowned at my bowl as an uncomfortable feeling twisted in my stomach. “Maybe it was,” I muttered.

  “It was how I escaped when I felt that no one loved me. Then, one day … it just slipped away. I've always felt that, perhaps, if someone had encouraged me to keep my imagination, if someone had forced me to use it – I might still have it today.”

  “And so you thought that if you encouraged and forced me, I'd get my imagination back.” I realized that my bowl was empty, so I pushed back my chair and stood up. “You thought that you could encourage and force me not to make the same mistakes you did.”

  “Yes,” said Mom, looking up to meet my eye. “Yes I did. When you started telling me all those wonderful stories, I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to make sure you kept those stories. When you started losing them … I knew I wasn't going to let you go down without a fight. I've never believed that they were gone forever.”

  I wordlessly picked up my bowl and carried it to the sink, rinsed it, and put it into the dishwasher.

  I turned back and met my mother's eye. “Thank-you.” I walked back to the table. “I personally don't remember how it happened – not yet, at least – but from what I understand, it was a good deal my fault. I was mad at my imagination. I was running away from it. Thank-you for forcing me to grope back.”

  “And now you have it back.”

  I frowned at the table. “Maybe. I still need to find my memories and get rid of that Polystoikhedron.” I walked around the table and gave my mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “But I'm fighting now. Fighting to make sure I can call my imagination mine once more.” I straightened. “So I'm going back out there, back in there, and I'm going to do everything in my power. I won't go down without a fight – not again.”

  “You'll get it back, Jen. I know you will.”

  I smiled. “Hey, maybe once I find mine, I might be able to show you how to find yours.”

  Mom shook her head. “Don't get my hopes up there. My imagination's been lost for thirty years. It's not likely I'll ever get it back.”

  I shrugged. “Well, we won't know unless we try.”

  Those words propelled me back to the woods and back to the stream. As soon as I was where I had left the notebook, I tapped the gems. “Take me back in. To the Sea Castle, if possible.”

  Chapter 9

  In Which I Decide to Lone It

  ACCOMPANIED by the usual flash of light and dizziness in the pit of my stomach, I was suddenly wet again. Wet was good – that meant that I was at least underwater. When I opened my eyes, I was pleased further to discover that I was in Queen Tailya's throne room.

  “Exactly where I need to be,” I whispered, stroking my bracelet's band. “Thanks, Ankulen.”

  The room was empty when I first arrived, but I didn't have to wait long before the doors opened and in swam Queen Tailya and Agua, Bubbles, and Spaes
h, talking worriedly among themselves. The moment they saw me, they froze, and just stared at me.

  “Um, hello,” I said, deciding we needed an icebreaker. “I'm back.”

  I was instantly tackled by three exuberant young mermaids. “Lady Jenifer! You're back!!”

  The fact that they tackled me rendered me unable to respond to their cry, and Queen Tailya had to come to my rescue. “Girls! Girls! Contain your excitement. Don't smother Lady Jenifer.”

  I was relieved to have the exuberant mermaids off of me, and gratefully accepted Queen Tailya's extended hand. “As my daughters have expressed,” she said, smiling in amusement, “we are surprised and overjoyed to see you. We feared you were dead.”

  “How'd you escaped the Polystoikhedron?” prompted Splaesh, before I could respond.

  “And how did you come to be here?” questioned Agua.

  “One question at a time!” I said with a laugh. “I escaped the Polystoikhedron when I remembered that I had the Ankulen and that I could use it to get me out of my imagination. Once I was out, I realized that it was lunchtime, so I decided to go home so I could eat something. I'm here because I decided that it was simpler to ask the Ankulen to bring me here, rather than some random location, and it did.”

  “It's good to have you back,” said Queen Tailya. “So very good.”

  “We thought you were dead!” exclaimed Agua.

  “Or at least destroyed,” added Bubbles.

  “Coral Mountain was destroyed!” declared Splaesh.

  “Girls, girls!” said Queen Tailya. “Let Lady Jenifer have some space. Why don't you go tell people that she survived and that the end isn't here after all.”

  I was relieved to see the princesses follow their mother's instruction and swim out of the door. When they were gone, Queen Tailya turned back to me. “They're excited about your return.”

  “I can tell.” I reached into my pocket and withdrew the Queen's Necklace, which retained its rainbow sheen, bringing a bit of color to the grayness. “Here, I made sure that the Polystoikhedron didn't eat this, either. The chain's broken, but that's probably why you lost it.”

  “Thank-you, Lady Jenifer,” said Queen Tailya, as she took it from me. She gave the broken chain a long, sorrowful look. “Well, it's better than no necklace.”

  “I'll come back to fix it after I find my memories,” I promised.

  “I'll be most grateful,” said Queen Tailya. “Until then, I will make do.” She drew in a deep breath. “Well, normally I would show my gratitude by arranging a festival in your honor, but I fear that you have more pressing matters to attend to.”

  I grimaced. “Unfortunately, you're right. While the festival sounds like fun, I have my memories to find. Do you have any idea where I might find Tisha and Chris?”

  “On land, perhaps?” suggested Queen Tailya. “After we escaped the Polystoikhedron, we met your companions on the beach and told them of your supposed fate. They said that they would go into hiding like everyone else, but I'm not sure where. Chris mentioned the Labyrinth …”

  “The Labyrinth?” I repeated. “Is that a maze or something?”

  “It's a system of caves that are easy to get lost in,” said Queen Tailya, shaking her head. “Horrid creatures inhabit them, so they are the only caves that have never been used to hide from the Polystoikhedron. If Sir Christofer and Fair Maiden Letitia chose to hide down there …”

  “I could use the Ankulen to summon them,” I suggested.

  “That you could,” said Queen Tailya.

  I glanced at the Queen's Necklace. “Does it still work, even with the chain broken?”

  A small smile lifted one corner of Queen Tailya's mouth as she held the pearl pendant up. “I'm not sure. The chain has never broken before. I could try, though … and it always did work best when the Ankulen was nearby.”

  She closed her eyes to concentrate, and the carved mermaids began to swim around the pearl, faster and faster, until they swam out of it. Rainbow light shot out of the Necklace, filling the Throne Room. When the light died down … well, I had to admit, the colors did make the place look somewhat better.

  I glanced down at my arms. I was still gray.

  Queen Tailya's eyes narrowed in concern. “Lady Jenifer … your color …”

  I gave a small half-smile. “I don't know why. Maybe I'll find my color when I find my memories.” I pressed my lips together, then asked, “Do you mind if I asked to borrow a few guards and a mermaid to be my guide back to the surface?”

  “I would be honored to provide them,” said Queen Tailya, nodding distantly.

  Not much later, I was headed towards the shore, my hand in Mynna's, and accompanied by four guards. Little was said between Mynna and me as we swam. When we reached the shore, we exchanged our good-byes, and then they swam away.

  I waved at them for several minutes, then I waded back to the sand and put back on my glasses and flip-flops, which I had carried in my hand to avoid losing them in the swim.

  I was about to tap the gems to summon Tisha and Chris when a thought occurred to me.

  “What if the Polystoikhedron attacks again?” I muttered. I could easily escape by getting out again. Tisha and Chris … well, I didn't want to risk them.

  “I'm sorry,” I whispered. “I'm going to leave the two of you where you are, wherever you are – even if it's that horrid Labyrinth. I'm going to let you believe me still dead. I know how to use the Ankulen sufficiently now, so I'll just trust it to get me to my lost memories.”

  I tapped the gems and told it to “Show me how to find my memories.” Then, on a whim, I asked it to “Dry me off.” I was quite pleased when it did so.

  Because I no longer had Chris and Tisha to remind me to eat and sleep, I have no idea how long I walked. Night, day, they were the same to me, save for the fact that night was darker. Sometimes I even ran, especially if the location was well-eaten.

  I wasn't always alone, for there were many people for me to meet. Sometimes I helped them, other times I was merely entertained and fed for the night. Some people recognized me, such as the Cloud Shepherds, who I must have come up with at Christmas time, for they looked exactly like the shepherds in our Nativity set – with the exception of the fact that they had angel wings. Others had no idea who I was, such as the Water Babies.

  I found the Water Babies to be quite charming creatures, and just as silly as Tisha and Chris had described. They looked just like normal babies, except they were blue, and had gills and webbed fingers and toes.

  Twice I met with the Polystoikhedron, and each time the Ankulen enabled me to make a quick exit.

  I heard nothing of Tisha and Chris, and I hoped they were all right. I missed them, I really did, and there were times when I almost broke down and summoned them.

  But I couldn't bear the thought of them being caught by the Polystoikhedron, and each time I met that beast, that fact was only further solidified in my mind.

  Chapter 10

  In Which I Meet a Jilted Knight

  “SHOO! Go away! Leave me alone! No, don't blow fire at me. Go away!”

  Uh, yes, that was me. I had been wandering around, minding my own business, when three dragons decided to investigate me. They weren't very big, the largest being the size of a St. Bernard Dog. One was shiny black, another milky white, the third a mottled gray. As you can probably guess by what I was saying, they were fire breathing dragons.

  They weren't hurting me, they were part of my imagination, after all. Sure, the fire was a bit hot for my liking, but it didn't burn me. They were babies, I now know, and like most babies, they didn't mean any harm. They were curious about the girl who wasn't getting burned by their fire, that's all.

  I, on the other hand, wasn't amused. I was on a mission, and they were in my way! Whenever I tried to take a step in a forwards direction, a dragon would block my path, or even jump on me, and they were big enough to knock me over.

  “Oh, go away!” I declared, picking myself up off the ground for t
he fourth time. “I'm not here to be your human burn-toy. I need to find my memories.”

  I was rewarded for this outburst by the white dragon biting me on the arm. It didn't hurt, of course, but it wasn't comfortable, either.

  “Oh great,” I sighed. “Now you're going to start biting me?” Really, the only reason I hadn't used the Ankulen to escape my friends was the fact that I had discovered that up to two hours had passed in the real world whenever I went out, and I wanted to save those hours for escapes from the Polystoikhedron.

  I probably would still be standing there now were it not for the fact that a silver-clad knight rode up on a magnificent black stallion and waved his mighty sword at the dragons, effectively scaring them away. Poor things, they only wanted to play!

  I turned to my rescuer in gratitude, and he dismounted with ease contrary to the fact that he was wearing armor. He pulled off his helmet and bowed graciously to me. “Sir Erran of Tree at your service, Fair Maiden …”

  “Jen,” I replied, “You may call me Jen.”

  “It is an honor to defend you, Fair Maiden Jen,” said Sir Erran, straightening. “Especially against such foul creatures as these dragons. You are unharmed, I hope?”

  “As far as I can tell,” I replied with a shrug and, I'm amused to admit, a slight blush. Sir Erran was quite handsome, and not too much older than I was – he looked twenty at the most. I had to remind myself that he was part of my imagination.

  “Good, good,” he declared. “Injured Fair Maidens are always a nasty business. How came you to be the dragons' prisoner?”

  “Not sure really,” I admitted. “I was just walking along, minding my own business, when – boom! – there they were and they wouldn't let me pass.”

  “Why are you not hiding from the Polystoikhedron?”

  “Why aren't you?” I replied, evasively.

  “I am a valiant knight!” Sir Erran declared. “It is my duty and honor to put myself in danger so that I can protect Fair Maidens such as yourself. I am one of the finest knights of all … perhaps the finest, were it not for the fact that Lady Jenifer favored Sir Christofer.” His speech ended on a note of disgust that I didn't quite like.